September 2009 Blog Posts (165)

One of the questions that atheists are often asked is how a set of morals are established without having them handed to them from ancient, desert-wandering, superstituous tribes. (There's a similar thread on Think Athiest in the forums here.)

I address this issue by first admiting that, as an atheist, I have no moral standards--I have an ethical standard… Continue

Having watched Kirk Cameron's crocoduck discourse, I got to wondering if this guy really thinks that that is what a transitional fossil is, an intermediate species between ducks and crocodiles, bulls and frogs, etc.. Surely, this guy can't be that stupid, can he? It is utterly unfathomable that any half wit could even think that such was even possible. Is it that I vastly underestimated the depth of stupidity of which some people are capable? If he is truly that retarded, how does he survive?… Continue

Armageddon is upon us!
Chemical, biological and atomic missiles will be launched at Israel soon!
A horrible earthquake will strike Israel soon!
The United States will sink underwater soon!
Harsh anti-Semitism will break out soon- jews who do not live in Israel will perish
The current parliament is the last one!
Only those who obey god’s commandments will survive. Only those who will cry out daily to the messiah, and… Continue

Here's the most comprehensive poll on religion in the U.S. I could find. Note that freethinkers, at 10.3%, represent more than twice the number of non-Christian religious adherents. The 10.3% number is derived by subtracting the 5.8%…

I'll be starting up a rather humorous dare soon actually. The dare simply is, get any holy text, create a bon-fire, and see how many paper planes that you make out of the holy text make it into the fire. Double points if you sprinkle a little black powder on each page to cause a small explosion each time. Take it how you will, but I'm going to attempt to acquire a particular… Continue

We are good. They are bad.
We are sane. They are mad.
We are right. They are wrong.
We are the best. They are the worst.
We have rights. They shouldn't be allowed.
We are enlightened. They are fools and idiots.
We are chosen by God. They are dupes of satan.
We are holy and rightous. They are an abomination.
We strive for high ideals. They sink to the lowest depravities.
We are contributing members of society. They are parasites and vermin.
We… Continue

Okay, so I admit that the title is a bit hyberbolic, but I am excited enough to receive my copy of Richard Dawkins' The Greatest Show on Earth to post about it. This may just be the book that will make the perfect Winter Solstice gift to the creationist in your family. From the reviews I have read, this book will make an undeniable case for evolution. In this regard, it will be different from Dawkins' previous books which treats evolution as the sound theory that it is.…

For those of you who may not know, I'm acting as co-director for Camp Quest Texas 2010. We've roughly figured out how much we think we'll need to raise to run Camp Quest Texas...quite a bit; I'll post the official goal once we have it ironed out. So, we are in need of fund raising ideas that will bring in money; bake sales are okay but we need something bigger. Do you know of any companies which might want to sponsor Camp Quest Texas? We are also throwing around the idea of trying to get one of… Continue

Authorities in Ohio said a 16-year-old arrested for drug possession allegedly used a page torn from his Bible as a marijuana cigarette rolling paper.

The Erie County sheriff deputy's report said the teenager's mother called authorities at about 11:35 p.m. Tuesday and asked deputies to meet her at a car wash on Ohio 101 in Margaretta Township, the Sandusky (Ohio) Register reported… Continue

With all the insurance health care debate going on, I came across this article out of Dallas. Having at one time been an insurance agent, and having had business and personal dealings with that industry, I’m NOT A FAN OF IT.
Now this article is about RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION BY AN INSURANCE COMPANY.
I loved it.
Agents overall are actually pretty honest people. Okay you’ll have those who are dirt bags but you have that in all industries.
What grinds my gears is the people… Continue

For years, I've taken an absolutely agnostic position on the whole abortion controversy. It has always been my contention that neither science nor religion could possibly know exactly the moment when human life begins in the womb. Since this face is unknowable at present, the debate is pointless because neither side has the facts needed to back up its claims.

But that was the position of an Agnostic Theist. Now, having become a "born again" Atheist, I've finally managed to pick a… Continue

Hi, my name is Jacob. I’ve been a member of think atheist for a while now but I haven’t spent much time here because of dial up internet. Anyways, I live in rural southern Wisconsin and have been an atheist for two years now. At my high school(Im only 16) there are a few atheists but only one is really open about it, most of the school is Christian, but religion is rarely talked about and few are "hardcore" Christians. But most don’t believe in evolution as I discovered in biology, where… Continue